gas

[ydoaPs]

http://www.wasteage.com/mag/waste_technology_process_converts/

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/967192/posts

http://www.acfnewsource.org/science/turkey_trash.html

 

so, why does gas cost so much? here, it is over $2 and in california it is $3. i heard it is much more in europe. i heard in germany, it is around $6 per gallon. if we can make gas out of trash and turkey guts, why do we have so many landfills and why do we pay so much for gas?

[ecoli]

Because...it would put oil companies out of buissness, and Dick Cheney wouldn't be filthy rich. Lord knows we can't create new methods of sustainable energy, it's not in the best interests of America's Gasoline cartel.

[ydoaPs]

but don't it seem logical to get rid of all of the trash and turn it into gasoline? seems like a perfect solution. it helps cleen up the place and helps people live thier daily lives. the only problem is that people are greedy.

[Skye]

The problem is that it still costs more to produce oils this way than digging it up.

[MolecularMan14]

Because...it would put oil companies out of buissness, and Dick Cheney wouldn't be filthy rich. Lord knows we can't create new methods of sustainable energy, it's not in the best interests of America's Gasoline cartel.

if I may interject...whats preventing the rest of the world from, i dunno, making alternative energy sources? There is a rest of the world u know. We really dont control all of it, so please, a message to the rest of the world "SAVE AMERICA'S ASS!" :-D

[ecoli]

Well, most of the countries that produce oil, (OPEC) don't really have the technology nor the research capabilities to develop new resources. And, why would they want to? They have oil, and that keeps them rich. Developing new resources would shift the economy too much.

[ydoaPs]

lets see, money=power, oil=money, therefore, oil=power. with the middle east's thirst for power, the gas situation doesn't look like it is gonna get better soon.

[Phi for All]

Diesel engines can be made to burn lots of alternative fuels. There are kits available so you can filter used vegetable cooking oil (which you can get for free from many restaurants--they have to pay to have it hauled away) and burn that for fuel. The kits allow you to start your engine on diesel fuel, get it warmed up, then switch to vegetable oil. You just have to make sure you switch back to diesel before you shut your engine down so the lines have the richer fuel in them for the next time you start up.

 

Necessity will drive the market toward alternatives. I remember back in 1968, the big US auto makers said there was absolutely no way for them to economically gear up to challenge Volkswagen. They claimed it would bankrupt them to retool to make compact cars. They also claimed Americans didn't want compact cars. When Datsun and Toyota came heavily into the US market in 1969, and Volkswagens sales skyrocketed, Detroit had the Pinto and the Vega ready by 1970. And it didn't hurt them a bit.

[Aardvark]

Diesel engines can be made to burn lots of alternative fuels. There are kits available so you can filter used vegetable cooking oil

 

When a number of drivers in Britain converted their cars to run on olive oil they were arrested and charged with the offence of evading pertol tax.

 

Seriously, they were convicted.

[ecoli]

When a number of drivers in Britain converted their cars to run on olive oil they were arrested and charged with the offence of evading pertol tax.

 

Seriously' date=' they were convicted.[/quote']

 

What???! That's ridiculous. Do people who walk and ride bikes get arrested too? That a serious privacy issue.

[Aardvark]

What???! That's ridiculous. Do people who walk and ride bikes get arrested too? That a serious privacy issue.

 

Bill O'Leary, official spokesman of Customs and Excise (The Taxman) stated that 'It’s a serious offence,By law, all cars on public roads must pay a tax on the fuel they use. Evasion carries a maximum seven-year jail term.'

 

Tax officials have formed a special investigative unit to 'sniff out' drivers using cooking oil as the exhaust smells like a fish and chip shop.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,807299,00.html

 

I love my government.

[Phi for All]

all cars on public roads must pay a tax on the fuel they use.

Our laws may be written a little differently. There were all kinds of articles praising people who were doing chinese restaurants a favor by taking the contents of their oil traps and filtering them for use in diesel engines. I know diesel engines last longer than regular ones, but I heard that the free biodiesel fuels reduced their overall life.

[Klaynos]

being bored I worked out that a gallon of LRP in the UK cost:

 

3.36 British Pound = 6.38064 US Dollar

 

(references:

http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/fuel/

http://www.onlineconversion.com/)

 

I know that the majority of this is in tax

[Phi for All]

You can bet that if biodiesel use gets to be widespread in the US, they'll figure a way to tax it and make it illegal to buy it from restaurants. That's just too economical and efficient.

[Aardvark]

You can bet that if biodiesel use gets to be widespread in the US, they'll figure a way to tax it and make it illegal to buy it from restaurants. That's just too economical and efficient.

 

It does seem sometimes like governments are there to prevent people doing sensible things. You can pretty much guarantee that a government will always come down on the side against common sense.

 

Lots of very good reasons to take the stupid choices.

 

 

And i think the UK government is on weak legal ground here as electric cars aren't taxed on their 'fuel' and the law simply states what levels of duty apply to petrol, it never mentins cooking oil. For a society supposedly based on law it appears that government fiat is still very powerful.

[Sayonara]

Bill O'Leary, official spokesman of Customs and Excise (The Taxman) stated that 'It’s a serious offence,By law, all cars on public roads must pay a tax on the fuel they use. Evasion carries a maximum seven-year jail term.'

Biofuel is fairly widespread in the UK, and I have heard various people talking on the radio about paying a few extra pennies tax for their vegetable oil, so perhaps only the stupid and lazy ones were actually prosecuted.

 

Having said that, the last time I heard this discussed on the BBC was six months ago, and the article you posted is from 2002, so something may well have changed since then.

 

The law can't tax you twice for using the road - if the car has paid-up road tax, it should be able to be powered by Peruvian screaming badgers if that's what makes it run well. The fuel tax applies to retail sales of petrochemicals, surely.

[Aardvark]

The law can't tax you twice for using the road - if the car has paid-up road tax' date=' it should be able to be powered by Peruvian screaming badgers if that's what makes it run well. The fuel tax applies to retail sales of petrochemicals, surely.[/quote']

 

That's what i thought.

 

But the judges disagree.

 

Apparently what the law actually says isn't important. What is important is how the government wants it to be 'interpreted'.

 

Those badgers of yours could be in line for a big tax bill.

[Sayonara]

More people ought to have decent barristers. That's how you make a precedent system work.

[Newtonian]

The law can't tax you twice for using the road - if the car has paid-up road tax, it should be able to be powered by Peruvian screaming badgers if that's what makes it run well. The fuel tax applies to retail sales of petrochemicals, surely.

When the veggie oil is used isnt is mixed with turps? I seem to recall tommorrows world giving a demonstration.

Its my understanding even if you manage to run your car on baked beans,you still have to pay duty.Though i heard its cheaper to pay the duty on Smartprice beans than HEINZ.

[Sayonara]

The additive could be sugar. All it does is reduce the viscosity of the oil, so that it is easier to start in cold weather.

 

In fact you can buy electric heater modifications that remove the need for additives.

[scm007]

You guys seem like you are getting to far into conspiracies. Sure the oil companies want to protect their assets, but if a new business opporutunity arises, they aren't going to turn it down because it is new. Currently they can drill for oil MUCH cheaper than they can produce it using waste and biomass and all of that. Once this changes, then there will be more money going into said programs, but until then, get used to raising gas prices.

[Sayonara]

I don't think it's really appropriate to label known market models as a "conspiracy".

 

Of course they want to use the cheapest production method and discourage alternatives - that's the aim of any working capitalist system. You capitalise.

[jdurg]

While this is just an opinion of mine and I hope no-one gets offended, I have a sick feeling that if a viable alternative energy source were to be found, the amount of terrorist attacks on this planet would skyrocket. Suddenly, there would be no need for the Middle East's oil and we would no longer have to purchase it from them. I think in order to continue getting money, those countries would fund terrorists to 'destroy' these alternative energy sources and factories so that the world would still be reliant on the Middle East.

[Phi for All]

I have a sick feeling that if a viable alternative energy source were to be found, the amount of terrorist attacks on this planet would skyrocket. Suddenly, there would be no need for the Middle East's oil and we would no longer have to purchase it from them.

It could also be argued that, since many terrorists are religious fanatics who feel western encroachment in their political (and thus religious) affairs prompts terrorist action, the amount of terrorism would decline if we were suddenly no longer interested in their countries.

[5614]

And less money would be going into those countries, their economy would kinda plummet.... could they still afford terrorism?